My experience at the Pine Walk Exhibition

I ended my official outing at the Pine Walk this afternoon. I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the gardens.

I learned a lot and enjoyed meeting artists of different calibres and styles. Of course, the highlight of every day was meeting members of the public from different parts of Europe who were holidaying in Bournemouth.

My art was very well received and on many occasions, many people told me it was a breath of fresh air to the Exhibition as it was very different. Most of the art from other artists on display were of the commercial sort but mine was unique as it was very obvious I was painting not for the market but as my heart led me.

I received very kind comments about my works which I found very encouraging and uplifting. My greeting card stand also received a lot of attention. As a self-taught artist, every comment goes a long way to increasing my confidence. And I ended up with a better idea of what the British public liked.

There was a very varied mix of people that walked through the gardens while I was there. I met people from different parts of the UK including people from

• Birmingham

• Oxford

• Manchester

• Cornwall

• Glasgow

• Portsmouth

• Salisbury

• Liverpool

• Lincolnshire

• Chichester

• Westbourne

• Cambridge

• Bury St Edmunds.

I also met people from Saudi Arabia, Canada, Netherlands and Germany.

The Exhibition provided the perfect platform for anyone to showcase their work to a wide variety of people. And artists came from all over the UK to take part.

I met lots of artists from Portsmouth, Christchurch, Poole, Salisbury and Southampton who made the daily journey to come and exhibit their works. Many of them have been taking part in the exhibition for over 20 years and it was interesting listening to their stories and experience with regards to how the public interest in art has changed over the years.

Squirrel at the Pine WALK

I loved the contacts I made with other local artists. This to me was invaluable as it gave me a better idea of what other artists were doing and how they were approaching their works. I will be showcasing some of the artists on this blog in the days to come.

Of course my days were topped up with regular visits from the resident squirrels. Some of them were very daring and courageous, taking food from people’s hands. My kids thoroughly enjoyed feeding them every evening they came to see me.

I also loved the birds in the Aviary. The provided us with endless soulful music which was very good accompaniment to the music from the Bournemouth Orchestra.

All in all I am very glad I made out the time to go down to the gardens. It became very difficult as the days wore on but I persevered to the very end and I am happy with myself for that.

The Bournemouth Eye taking off

All this would not have been possible without the love, dedication and support of my husband, mother and my darling little angels. Everyone bent over in one way or the other to accommodate my passion.

I am also very grateful to my lovely niece, Kainne who made out time to come down to Poole to help me out. You are a beautiful soul dear.